Don’t despair, scientists! Twice is the charm

A bit of early rejection tends to pay off later, according to a new study that examines the fates of research papers initially turned down by scientific journals.

“We think the most likely explanation is that inputs from editors and peer reviewers, and the greater amount of time spent working on resubmissions, makes papers better and improves the citation impact of the final product,” says researcher Vincent Calcagno, who initiated the project as a postdoctoral fellow in theoretical ecology at McGill University.